>> this is "bbc newsnight." funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank.

>> union bank has put its global insight to work for a wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc newsnight." >> after 160 years, after a week of extraordinary allegations. >> this week, alleged phone hacking of murder victims and their families. where does this leave rupert murdoch's news coverage. >> they will lose money, they will lose advertising. you start off with some on sunday. you can make a whole lot of money. >> is the role of government to make us all feel happier about

ourselves? we speak to a psychologist who says yes. the news of the world has spent much of its life as the highest selling english-language newspaper but it will now cease to exist. the paper will be published following a string of phone hacking allegations. it hacked into the parents of murdered school children and those killed in iraq. >> rupert murdoch bought "the news of the world," at the tail

end of the 60 plus. back then, he was in a corner fighting. >> yesterday, he said that i'm not eating came through. >> the closure of the "news of the world," is a sign of murdoch loss ruthless expediency. film and tv, the u.s., and around the world have long ago taken over as the cash accounts -- cash cows. companies have been falling over themselves to pull advertising from the tabloid. murdoch plus people feared a tabloid -- was next. news corp. knows better than everyone the cost of a public boycott. sales of "the son," have

remained on the flow because of the anger over the tragedy. the newspaper lost 75% of its readers and they have never come back. >> they have been following the empire for 25 years. she was not surprised by the news of the death of "the news of the world." >> the brand has been destroyed. it is unlikely that the product will die. >> does this and things? does this end the scandal? >> not at all. >> james murdoch is the one who has been running the u.k. arm of news corp.. he authorized payoffs of up to a million pounds of celebrities who threaten to sue. now, he is saying sorry. >> there was a particular settlement that i authorized and i said was made with information

that was incomplete. i acted on the advice of executives and lawyers within complete investigations and that is a matter of real regret. >> it has only been a week since james murdock was spirited from london to head news corp.. he said that he put the scandal in a box. >> it was not envisaged that james mar that would be moving to new york -- james murdoch would be moving to new york. he would be the chief executive of the pay tv operations. >> rebecca brooks was left to succeed james murdoch. >> i am convinced that the leadership of the company is the right thing. she is doing the right thing for the company.

>> the inescapable point is that rebekah brooks is vulnerable. she is the last person standing. these are times of crisis. his father was hoping that he can make this as his business. >> is joining me now is the political editor of the news of the world, the former express and independents editor. i am joined by rupert murdoch plus -- rupert murdoch's biographer. >> who is to blame. how high that goes is still to be seen. the culture comes from need to make stories, the decision to break the rules. the decision to go that extra 200 miles into illegality.

they did not know what was going on and that is inconceivable. >> you were rupert murdoch's biographer. you knew him well and his motivations. is it realistic that he did not have a grip at what was going on. he must have an eye on this. was there an inkling that perhaps he would just let things go. he was a control freak, wasn't he? >> he was a control freak. he had a free hand. there is the responsibility for this appalling thing that happened. "the guardian," has done a good job and exposing it. this is appalling.

he was not in day-to-day control. >> was rebekah brooks in day-to- day control? >> yes. >> why is she still being backed when it is clear that legal opinion will come to see what kind of responsibility, she was the editor when the phone was being attacked. >> i understand what happened. what month ofw was doing carrying on supporting her. >> she is innocent of the charges against her. what damage ultimately happens to the wider entire - -empire? >> i don't know.

this global scandal, murdoch is one of the best things that ever happened to this kind of journalism. without murdoch, there were probably be no "guardian," "independent," or competition for you at the bbc. >> said that is a perfectly fair point. he loves newspapers. the thing that we should talk about is what has happened over the past two years. for the last two years, this company has been denying it. they went to parliament. they have misled everyone. they're still paying the person knows the truth. they have been high resistance to all of the lawsuits. they have been desperate to get the story out and that is not bear scrutiny. >> and rupert murdoch has said

that he was a man that loved newspapers and a man that actually understands newspapers. if he is a good thing, then what is wrong with this? >> some say that he is the devil incarnate in terms of the newspapers. >> he lost 87 million two years ago. >> we are hearing that there is going to be a -- this is not a problem for tabloid papers across the borders. this is the start of the obvious demise. >> tabloid papers are suffering at the moment. they were called in by rebecca brooks and said that they have diversified the website. this is a very different time.

>> if we had lost half of the circulation, we would still be spending more. >> it is it the end of the tabloids? >> no, it is not in the end of the tabloids. this is also about gossip. murdoch can see that the "news of the world," will lose money. he wanted lower rates. of this, you make a whole lot of money. >> it has a financial into it. >> you're starting from scratch. you buy "the sun," you by "the news of the world." >> all newspapers are under threat by the internet.

"the wall street journal," is a marvelous this paper that he has rescued. >> the culture of tabloid journalism. look at the victims. i and stand there will be more information to come, more hacking to come. the more that this keeps going, everyone is tainted with the same problem, aren't they? >> there is the culture of campaigning journalism by the "news of the world," and they have been -- campaign. all these things are being overshadowed by this appalling behavior of these people will have not only sell it to the brand but -- >> again, that makes it confusing. >> this is astonishing.

>> it would be sad if we lost the feasibility of the tabloids campaign. they could raise money for a famine within three days. that would be very sad. but it does not need to go. >> definitely would have been in this position. >> will james murdock inherit his father's empire?-- james murdoch inherit the empire? >> i'm not sure he will want to. >> america is concerned about pakistan. following their success in the osama bin laden operation, people are wanting to the ideas of stopping the terrorists in their tracks.

>> pakistan might prove to be the major challenge in the so- called war on terror. the rising confidence of extremist groups is making observers extremely nervous, especially as the country is home to what the jihadists like to call the islamic bomb. the last time the world was jittery about security in pakistan was nearly a decade ago just after the 9/11 attacks when washington developed an emergency plans. we have been told that these plans are coming once again and they are contemplating the country expanding their nuclear arsenal at a time of weakness. these are the images behind the latest attack of nerves, a naval base in karachi. they destroyed two u.s.-made spy planes in a well-executed

operation which is believed to have received support from elements within the armed forces. >> the raid on that particular naval facility was unique in this sense that it was the first time that an organized group was able to get inside to a heavily armed military facility and move around inside and conduct devastating attacks against elements of this facility. in this case, they went after it u.s. supplied maritime surveillance aircraft. assetsstan's nuclear have spread across the country, partly for defensive reasons. there has been research reports and information which leads to this distribution map. the nuclear reactors are --

in rhenium enrichment occurs at three sites. plutonium reprocessing is at two sites. there are what position programs that were close to where osama bin laden was based. there are believed to be 90 to 110 warheads in pakistan. extremists have attacked three nuclear sites in the past five years. >> i was able to find that these three instances of a tax against secured military related facilities. this extends back over the past three or four years. i remember one against a missile storage site. i don't think it was fully

successful but what it indicates is the level of brazenness and perhaps even sophistication in the fact that these kind of attacks can be courted by extremists. >> al qaeda's leaders have long harbored a desire to acquire and detonate a nuclear device. we talk to a campaigner who used to be a jihadists and a friend to osama bin laden. he traveled to -- in 1998, a reputed source of nuclear weapons. >> there was issues like investigating the environment and the possibilities to get like either the weapons itself, weapons of mass destruction, or materials, which might help al qaeda. this is a fact, without a doubt.

>> why go to the former republics if the weapons could be procured from inside pakistan. islamist groups have targeted the armed forces with this in mind. >> if there are people inside the military command structure that are in charge of these weapons, that are sympathetic to extremists and under the right circumstances, could take action and either enable people from outside to get in where the other ones would not be able to get in or simply to divert by using a unit to divert some weapons during a crisis or something like that. >> the pakistani army has agreed safety protocols that are designed to protect their nuclear assets. warheads and detonators are stored separately. anything might be possible. >> there is no question that america is extremely concerned

about the nuclear sites in pakistan. there are certainly plants that have been made by the americans probably involving british elements to oversee those sides in the event that they're falling into the wrong hands, to intervene. >> what would it plan look like? we asked a former cia nuclear proliferation expert. >> the governments are not thinking about how they would respond, they are not preparing and they're not doing their job. it would be in operation from those that would try to remove materials and those that would respond with such complexity that we're almost interim into uncharted territory. again, we are on the extreme edges -- >> there was the global strike program which was part of the

efforts to go out and take out wmd facilities on a global scale. this is a real program. how expanded it is in terms of real plans, i have no way of knowing. >> some believe that raising nuclear facilities now are deliberately provocative. any plans to go when would be a disaster. >> this is for them something bigger and more serious. i think that if the u.s. was foolish enough to do this, they would be setting a precedent, for example, with israel. with the be anything to stop them from attacking iran? >> the west would like to see tough action inside pakistan. the rest of an army brigadier this week for allegedly extremists linked was made public. >> groucho marx was a man

accustomed to bringing joy into the lives of others. how do we do this? what are the magic ingredients for happiness? a british psychologist -- an american psychologist has encouraged the prime minister to look into this. we spoke to them. >> what makes you happy? in 2002, a three was presented which laid out the way of storing happen is for individuals. in the professes opinion, there is an over emphasis on cheeriness. so, a revised three which has

the acronym, experiencing positive emotions, being aware of positive feelings as they happen, finding meaning in your life, and getting a sense of achievement. he has already inspired david cameron it to announce that there will be a move to measure our happiness. >> the professor is here now. can you really make people feel well at a time like this? "yes, i think you can. the question is, how is life going for you? traditionally, we have measured the economics of it but what we want to know about it in addition is how much pause of the motion we have, how good are our relationships, how engaged are we to the people we love? those are measurable. >> are you a cheery chap? >> quite the opposite.

i am a pessimist. i only think that it pessimists can do this kind of work in her cheerfulness. >> do you think this is worth aiming for? >> the issue is there something over or of getting rid of misery. all of the public policy, there be is aimed at getting rid of misery. the question is what is above zero. >> duty is not just the willingness, this is not just the absence of cowardice and well-being is not just the absence of misery, this is the presence of real things. >> is there a selfish preoccupation? >> if you are depressed right now and you ask what is the single most move lifting thing you can do, it is to go out and help another person. it turns out the way the system

was built, doing something for another person is the single biggest boost. >> give them one piece of advice about improving their sense of well-being. >> 1 easy pieces when you have people to write down three things that went well today and why they went well. six months later, people can do this happier and there is satisfaction and low or depression. being conscious of the things that go well. >> the thing i would like is what would your grandchildren say about you? >> we have people write their vision of what a positive human future would be and then write

their obituary through their grandchildren's eyes in which they say what i did to contribute to a positive human future and it builds meaning and purpose in life. >> alice david cameron supposed to apply this? >> all we have measured is money. the question is first measuring well-being. it turns out over the last decade, people have found ways of measuring pretty much as well as we can measure schizophrenia or alcoholism, the meaning of life, because of a motion, relationships with others. the first thing is to measure the well-being of the british people and then i think this is quite bold the prime minister, to hold oneself accountable for changes in well-being by public policy. what we do is we take teachers

and we teach them the skills and well-being in their own life and they teach it to 10 to 12 year- old children. what we found is that when teachers learn these skills of well-being for the next couple of years, children have less depression, less anxiety, and better conduct. this example of public policy and education at least a greater well-being. >> if you look at a pig lying around in mud who is content, what would you say? >> i am not really after contentment. contentment and the smiley face are not the variables of real psychological interest. they are how engage did you at work, how much meeting do you have in life? >> you believe that you can give people meeting in life? >> it turns out unlike the smiley face, which is in

terrible, meaning in life is everyone's birthright. this is able to be learned. this is able to be taught from teachers to children. >> that is all for this week. from all of us, goodbye. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a

wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc newsnight" was presented by kcet los angeles.